The Shipping & Stevedoring Association of Liberia is
calling on the Justice Ministry to provide protection for its members who
are being threatened by certain individuals who he said are claiming to
be members of the association.

The president of the association, Mr. Cecil Barnes said the
appeal of the organization to the Ministry is based on an incident last
week, when a group of individuals led by one Joseph Roberts went to the
association’s office in the Mesurado Compound on Bushrod Island and
manhandled his special assistant Roland Giddings and also threatened his(Cecil)
life.

He said the men went to his office under the guise that the
association that he heads, has some funds for them in escrow and demanded
that the money be made available. He said although they did not see him,
they made threatening remarks against his life and manhandled his office
staffer.

Mr. Barnes said it was the timely intervention of UNMIL peacekeepers
that saved the day. He said he was grateful to UNMIL for their speedy intervention.
“If they had not come, those guys would have killed my manager, “
he said.
Explaining further, Mr. Barnes said Mr. Roberts’ claims that the Shipping
& Stevedoring Association founded about two years ago, owes some money
to the stevedoring section of the United Seamen Port & Workers Union.
He said the fact of the matter is that Mr. Roberts is not even the head
of that body as it is headed by Mr. Nimely Davies. Mr. Barnes said there
is “no contractual agreement” between his organization and Mr.
Roberts.

Mr. Barnes said prior to the establishment of the Shipping
& Stevedoring Association of Liberia, which was incorporated in November
2002, there was an association known as Shipping Association of Liberia
headed by the late Eugene Cooper. He said that association was never incorporated
and that he never inherited “any cent.”

“I challenge Mr. Roberts to provide evidence of any
contractual agreement he has with our association,” he said. Mr. Barnes
said he was of the view that those who went with Mr. Roberts to his officer
may have been misled to believe that the association has some money for
them. “This is not true,” he maintained.

Meanwhile, the lawyer of the association has formally written
the Justice Ministry, complaining about the incident. The lawyer is seeking
the intervention of the Ministry to avoid what he calls, “the wicked
and diabolical plan of Mr. Roberts and his collaborators.”